May 25 -- Caspe to Escatron. 32 long shadeless kms.

This would have been a good walk for someone seeking forgiveness or doing penance It was pretty punishing, pretty desert-like, pretty endless. 

 I just put my pedal to the metal and walked till my GPS said I had walked 21. Then a short rest, boots off, and the last kms went fast. Those last couple with the town right there and you slogging away on the side of the road are the hardest no matter how many you've walked. 

It was the kind of day that gets people thinking -- remind me why I am doing this! But there were of course a few pluses -- no asphalt, heavy cloud cover, one or two glimpses of the Ebro, 

totally flat, and the occasional colorful cement truck. 

When I arrived in town, the woman working in the town hall came out to hug me and wish me Buen camino. It turns out she knows a lot of the same Camino people I do. Small world. 

So we've got a pretty cell-like room at the dock on the river, it's part of the local nautical club. No charm, pretty dark inside but the water is hot, there are towels, and the beds have clean sheets. Downstairs  there's a restaurant full of workers so the good must be edible. I'll know in a few minutes!! 

Just a short update since I was unable to post this yesterday. After lunch on a stroll through the almost deserted old town, I met a woman sweeping in front of her house on the Calle Mayor. She described how years ago, at this hot hour of the afternoon, there would be three or four groups of residents sitting outside in the shade of the buildings--drinking coffee, gossiping, playing games. 

Heading up the hill towards the "new town," (built originally by the now closed hydro-electric plant for its workers) there was more life. I even got recruited to be the fourth in a game of parcheesi :-). 

My parcheesi game meant o had to forego a trip to see the outside of the gothic Monasterio de la Rueda (monastery and hotel closed a few months ago, drats). But the game was a lot of fun.